CD Reviews

Mainly ballads this time

Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 12/19/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Sawyer Brown established a reputation for upbeat, rocking country music so although their albums always contained some ballads, this album is unusual for them because it is filled almost entirely with ballads. Also unusual is the comparative lack of self-penned songs - Mark Miller only wrote one of the songs here (A mighty big broom) - he usually contributes more than that. Nevertheless, this album still has much to offer.The two singles released to American country radio were the title track and This missing you heart of mine, both excellent ballads. Possibly the best song here is Still hold on, a Kim Carnes song that Tanya Tucker recorded for her album, Girls like me. Such was the strength of that Tanya album, I didn't even mention Still hold on in my review of it, but it's a great song and I'm surprised that neither Tanya's nor Sawyer Brown's version was released as a single. Of the remaining ballads, I particularly like Old photographs (co-written by Kix Brooks before he met Ronnie Dunn). Sawyer Brown pick up the tempo on Little red caboose and Dr Rock and roll, just to remind us what their other albums are like.In its way, this is a fine album but much mellower than I expect a Sawyer Brown album to be."